Architectural Currents: How Celeste Asfour Turned a Hidden Berlin Courtyard into "Strom"

Main Facts

In the heart of Berlin’s bustling urban fabric lies a quiet, historic courtyard framed by 19th-century properties that once echoed with the rhythmic hum of early industrial production. Today, this hidden enclave has been brought back to life through Strom—a seasonal café, bar, and bistro conceptualized by Berlin-based architectural multihyphenate Celeste Asfour.

Occupying the ground floor of a historic complex that originally hosted some of the German capital’s earliest and most successful restaurateurs, Strom is a masterclass in interior architecture, material juxtaposition, and spatial storytelling. Created in close collaboration with the founders and the Swedish branding and design agency Several, the project transforms an underutilized transit zone into a vibrant "safe harbour" for local creatives, startup workers, and neighborhood visitors.

Rather than relying on sterile, hyper-modern minimalist tropes, Strom leans heavily into material tension and texture. The interior features a striking dialogue between the dark, rich tones of oiled cherry wood and the heavy, brutalist-edged presence of rose marble. These commanding elements are grounded by the soft, organic warmth of locally handmade terracotta tiles underfoot. Brushed-steel shelving units, custom-built wooden paneling, curated vintage objects from Berlin antique markets, milky mauve tabletops made from recycled polycarbonate "Karlite" by Dutch studio Plasticiet, and sculptural lighting elements combine to create a space that is both deeply sophisticated and delightfully unpretentious.

Chronology

Early Inspirations and a Shift in Scale

Celeste Asfour’s journey into design was written into her upbringing. Immersed in an architectural household where her mother frequently dragged her to museums and active construction sites, Asfour initially harbored reservations about entering the discipline professionally. However, her perspective shifted fundamentally during her university years.

Confronted with the traditional architectural paradigm—which she summarizes as "building, building, building; new, new, new"—Asfour realized that classical architecture’s obsession with massive scale did not align with her creative ethos. Choosing a different path, she pivoted toward interior architecture, focusing on material research, adaptive reuse, and working with what already exists rather than erasing the past. Her multidisciplinary practice now spans interior design, object creation, and photography.

The Genesis of Strom (Late 2024)

The genesis of Strom began in late 2024, when Asfour was approached with an open-ended proposition: design a to-be-determined gastronomy project on the ground floor of a sprawling 19th-century courtyard complex in Berlin. At this initial phase, the project existed in a total vacuum.

"It was quite a different setup," Asfour recalls. "There was no name, no logo, no website, no branding, no colours."

Working alongside the founders and Swedish branding agency Several, Asfour helped conceptualize a seasonal hospitality venue designed to activate a courtyard that had long remained hidden from the general public. Because the courtyard serves as a bustling intersection featuring three separate access points through which office workers, creatives, and visitors stream daily, Asfour identified a distinct rhythm of human circulation. This perpetual flow inspired both the functional layout of the café and its name: Strom, the German word for "stream" or "electrical current."

Design, Materialization, and Execution

With the identity established, Asfour embarked on a meticulous materialization process. Rejecting the ubiquitous, monotone beige palettes and high-gloss lacquered finishes that dominate contemporary hospitality design, she sought to manufacture visual tension through a careful balancing act of hard and soft materials.

The build-out progressed through iterative material research—sourcing bespoke marble slabs, testing timber finishes, integrating brushed-steel elements, and installing handcrafted artisan lighting. By mid-2025, the interior transformation was complete, blending historical structural elements with modern craftsmanship and playful accent details, culminating in its official opening to the public.

Supporting Data & Design Specifications

To fully understand the spatial ecosystem of Strom, one must look closely at the granular architectural choices and material specifications deployed throughout the venue:

• Spatial Context: Located on the ground floor of a 19th-century industrial-era courtyard complex in central Berlin.
• Core Collaborators: Designed by Celeste Asfour, in collaboration with the venue founders and Swedish branding agency Several.
• Millwork & Metalwork: Custom oiled cherry wood paneling paired with brushed-steel shelving units produced in partnership with Studio Ultimo.
• Countertops & Flooring: A brutalist-edged rose marble service counter offset by warm, locally handmade terracotta floor tiles.
• Surface Materials: Tabletops crafted from "Karlite"—a milky mauve recycled polycarbonate material manufactured by Dutch studio Plasticiet.
• Seating & Upholstery: Wooden dining chairs supplied by Form&Refine, paired with bespoke built-in bench seating upholstered in high-performance Kvadrat fabric.
• Lighting Design:
  • Warm-toned Murano glass sconces casting rose hues, crafted by Milan-based studio 6 am.
  • Noguchi paper lamps providing diffused, organic illumination from the shelving units.
  • Faceted metal pendant lights by Asca Studio, drawing the eye downward toward the main coffee bar.
• Artistic Contributions: Black-and-white line drawings by Berlin-based artist David Schiesser, featuring maritime-themed motifs like flying fish and fishing nets to symbolize the flow of the courtyard.

Official Responses and Creator Insights

In interviews detailing the conceptual framework behind Strom, Celeste Asfour has been vocal about her rejection of lazy design clichés and her commitment to authentic human engagement.

Reflecting on her overarching philosophy, Asfour states:

"My philosophy now is to take what is there and work with it. That’s why I prefer the scale of interior architecture. In every project, I think you have to create some sort of tension. I hate when everything is completely beige or lacquered, when spaces don’t have any sense of texture. You have to balance hard things with soft things. That kind of tension results in balance."

Addressing the collaborative, blank-slate nature of the project’s inception, she notes:

"In general, I love creating spaces where people meet and interact, so this gastronomy project was ideal. The outcome was really shaped by the process: by the way it began, by the space and its requirements, by the people that I worked with, and by a desire to have fun with it."

Asfour is equally deliberate about avoiding design pretensions, pointing to playful details like the bulbous, bubble-gum pink sink installed in the venue’s restroom—a fixture that initially drew amused skepticism from installation tradesmen.

"I think it’s important to have fun with design in an authentic way rather than including things because you want to be daring," she explains.

Implications

Strom’s arrival in Berlin marks a significant shift in how historic urban spaces are adaptively reused and integrated back into the civic fabric. For decades, many of Berlin’s sprawling 19th-century industrial courtyards have functioned as inward-looking enclaves—private workspaces visible only to those employed within their perimeter walls. By inserting a publicly accessible, highly curated architectural sanctuary into this historic courtyard, Strom successfully bridges the gap between private enterprise and public life.

Furthermore, Strom serves as a critique of modern hospitality design trends. At a time when digital fatigue and homogenizing real estate developments often yield hyper-sanitized, algorithmically generated interior spaces, Asfour’s work proves that tactile architecture, material honesty, and regional craftsmanship still hold immense value. The café demonstrates that contemporary commercial venues do not need to strip away history to feel modern; rather, they can weave contemporary circular materials (such as recycled polycarbonate) alongside historic wood, stone, and terracotta to create an enduring sense of place.

Ultimately, Asfour successfully sidesteps the cliché of the "third place"—a term she openly criticizes as overused—in favor of something much more fundamental: a welcoming, flexible urban harbor. Whether patrons are stopping by for a rapid espresso while waiting for a freshly grilled sandwich, setting up a laptop for remote work, or settling in for afternoon drinks as concertina windows fold open to the courtyard breeze, Strom proves that thoughtful design can choreograph human movement, spark serendipitous encounters, and electrify a forgotten corner of the city.